The Silver Spoon is the most authoritative book if you want to cook real Italian food, which recently was translated for the first time into English. I first saw it at the UQ bookshop during one of my breaks between lectures last year. What distinguishes it from other recipe books is that:
1. It's massive... It's as heavy and big as a normal textbook, containing over 2000 recipes.
2. It's real Italian cooking, not this fusion imitation stuff we're used to getting. Just like lemon chicken or honey chicken isn't real chinese food, I bet so much of the food in these so-called Italian cooking books are also not the real deal.
3. And none of this mixed culture cooking... Chinese-French-Alaskan fusion cuisine... ha, that's a laugh! The Silver Spoon is the best selling recipe book in Italy for over 50 years. If Italians buy it, it must be good right?
4. It's not a book that is based on pretty pictures or a good-looking-young-english-male-cook (oh, admit it, you know who I'm talking about) on the front cover. Not that I don't like that particular young english male cook, but I think a lot of his popularity is unfortunately not due to his cooking, but for other reasons, which is a shame, because he is quite inventive and has great ideas.
Anyway, if you want to see this book for yourself: http://www.phaidon.com/silverspoon/. There's even pdfs on preview for you to take a look at.
In Australia it retails at 69.95 I think, but if you're quick, you can get a 10 dollars discount at Angus Robertson bookshop at carindale... I think its Angus Robertson... anyway, it's one to put on my wishlist!
3 comments:
hey jeff,
another food site! splendid! i'll add you to my list of food sites under favourites.
i have heard really good reviews on 'the silver spoon' too, but it's more of a cookbook for italian 'home-style' food, or so i've heard, and is quite straightforward with just recipes and no anecdotes, which are quite popular with cookbooks nowadays, and they are a good read.
I actually have my eyes on giorgio locatelli's "made in italy". this is also a huge book - and very heavy!! - and although he's a famous chef, the style of this cookbook is unlike that of many celeb chefs. it's full of information about ingredients as well as anecdotes and some great-looking recipes, although they seem more like "restaurant" italian food. this book has had pretty good reviews too, so maybe you should check it out, if you're into italian cooking. oh yeah, and the last time i checked, this book is cheaper by like $10 from david jones cf angus and robertson, just for your information.
yeah, i was tossing up between the silver spoon and that one, and i agree the silver spoon looks more like a home food type one, but italian home food is not necessarily inferior, unlike chinese home food vs chinese restaurant food. i'm wondering how many of the listed ingredients are available in australia though :(
jeff
ohh i did not mean in any way that home style food is inferior to restaurant food! indeed, i'm sure in many cases, homestyle food reflects the country's food offerings best, as they make the best use of the country's fresh produce(as for chinese food, i actually much prefer homestyle to the stuff you get at restaurants, coz there's less oil!)i simply meant that it may be better to get a book for 'restaurant' type food, coz they are dishes that we recognise as 'italian cuisine'. oh you know what i mean.
yes, i have also heard that some ingredients used in that book may not be readily available in all countries - that's the case with most recipes not created in your country of residence really. but i'm sure you could substitute certain ingredients with something similar? or you could always check the stores that import stuff from overseas.. if it has anything to do with baking, try ordering online from king arthur flour company - it's a famous american company that exports goods to all over the world. :)
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